Sources confirm that Kenyan police have arrested three suspects in connection with the arson attack that destroyed a girls' boarding school dormitory in central Kenya, killing 12 students and injuring 20 others. The arrests, made in the early hours of Thursday, come as investigators probe systemic failures in boarding house safety across the country. Uncovered documents from the Ministry of Education reveal that at least 40 per cent of boarding schools have not passed fire safety inspections in the past two years.
The blaze, which tore through the wooden dormitory of Moi Girls School in Eldoret, is the deadliest school fire in Kenya since 2001. Witnesses say the fire started after a group of students were seen arguing near the dormitory. Police have not confirmed a motive, but sources close to the investigation say the suspects are current students.
The UK government has offered technical assistance to Kenya's fire safety regulator, a move that critics say is overdue. The offer, made through the British High Commission in Nairobi, includes training for fire marshals and the installation of modern alarm systems in state-run boarding schools. This is the latest episode in a long history of school fires in Kenya, where decades of underfunding and corruption have left boarding houses as death traps.
In 2019, a fire at a school in Kangarisi killed eight girls. In 2017, a dormitory blaze in Busia claimed 10 lives. Unaccountable power has allowed school administrators to ignore safety standards, while parents and students pay the price.
The money trail leads to procurement scandals: fire extinguishers that were never delivered, wiring that was never grounded, and alarms that never sounded. The UK's offer is a band-aid on a wound that requires surgery. Kenya's education budget allocates less than 2 per cent to infrastructure maintenance.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education's permanent secretary has reportedly blocked a parliamentary inquiry into dormitory safety for the past three years. The three suspects will appear in court on Friday. Their arrests may bring justice for the 12 dead, but the true verdict will come when every boarding house in Kenya is made safe.
That is a trial that has been waiting for years.
